Perry’s “Oops” may haunt him back home

Mere seconds after the word escaped Gov. Rick Perry’s lips in Wednesday night’s debate, the Twitter-ocracy pronounced its judgment: the Perry presidential campaign was over. “Rick Perry = Aggie joke.” “Perry’s forgetfulness is the most devastating moment of any modern primary debate.” “The Rick Perry Presidential Campaign. Time of death: 8:18 CST.” And if you think it was Democrats piling on, there was this from Ann Coulter: “See what happens when Perry shows up sober?”

Here in Texas, those of us watching the Michigan debacle felt a seismic shift shuddering though our political landscape. The unimaginable had happened to our once-invincible governor, whose charmed career was blessed by great timing and better hair. At long last, Rick Perry had run out of luck. You could tell by the look on his face he was as stunned as we were.

Perry had been regurgitating a standard stump speech, one that he has uttered dozens – maybe even hundreds – of times since joining the quest for the Republican nomination As president, he would shut down three federal agencies: the Department of Education, the Department of Commerce, and the …um…

Try as he might, he could not summon the name of the third agency he was so darn sure needed to be shuttered. (He would, about 15 minutes later: the Department of Energy, which, by the way, oversees our nation’s nuclear weaponry.) His brain-freeze came in the middle of explaining a bold re-organization of government, for which you expect a certain focus on the details. It’s not like forgetting where you tossed your car keys.

With that, a whiff of vulnerability settled on the man who became the longest-serving governor in Texas history through a chain of good breaks. He assumed the office when George W. Bush left for the White House; he kept it when not-so-funny comedian Kinky Friedman siphoned votes from more serious opponents. In his last election, he tapped the electorate’s anti-Washington fervor to defeat one of Texas’ smartest, and most hard-working, Republican officeholders, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

And so begins the unraveling of Perry’s power. After Wednesday’s debate performance, his stock surely plummeted among the big investors in political endeavors. The CNBC pundits evaluating the debate issued a pessimistic long term outlook for Perry Inc. : Sell. Now.

The implications go far beyond his White House aspirations. With Perry no longer able to control political money, his influence will wane. The fear factor will evaporate.No longer will he be able to direct campaign funds to reward loyalists and punish his enemies.